Conveyor systems are mechanical systems for transporting large objects or materials from one location to another. Such systems may be employed in a variety of throughput applications. For example, conveyor belts are regularly used for translating suitcases, bags or other luggage through airports, for moving parts or components along an assembly line, or for transferring items or packages through a shipping facility. Typically, a conveyor system includes one or more movers for conveying objects in a single dimension or direction, such as a conveyor belt, e.g., a system of two or more pulleys or pulley-like wheels causing motion of a continuous loop band, as well as one or more machines or features for changing a direction of travel of objects being conveyed, as well as for moving objects from one conveyor to another, or for transferring objects into a bin, chute or other like apparatus. Such machines or features are sometimes called “diverters,” “divert mechanisms,” or, simply, “diverts.”
Various types of diverters are used to modify the directions of travel of objects within a conveyor system. One common divert is a steerable wheel divert, which may be provided in series with a branch or branches of a conveyor system, and includes one or more rows of commonly aligned and motorized rotating wheels. When objects are being conveyed through the conveying system, one or more rows of the rotating wheels rotate in a manner consistent with a primary direction of travel, i.e., about an axis perpendicular to the primary direction of travel, and thereby cause objects passing over the wheels to travel in a straight line through the conveyor. When an object is to be diverted from the conveying system, however, one or more control signals may be transmitted to a control system associated with the steerable wheel divert, thereby causing each of the wheels within a row to pivot in common by a defined angular extent, and increase in rotational velocity, thereby causing the rotating wheels to rotate in a manner that points away from the primary direction of travel, and toward a secondary direction of travel, according to the defined angular extent. In this regard, a steerable wheel diverter may be provided in a manner that causes objects passing over such wheels to be diverted from the conveying system into a predetermined chute or a nearby bin, cart or storage vessel, or from one branch of the conveying system into another branch of the conveying system.
Steerable wheel diverters typically include a common assembly having one or more motors, e.g., induction motors, which power one or more roller devices, each of which may cause a row of wheels to rotate at a predetermined or adjustable rate of rotation, and in directions that may be defined by one or more control signals. Upon a receipt of one or more of such signals, an actuator may cause the respective wheels in the row to pivot about the axes of rotation of by a predefined amount, e.g., nominal angles such as thirty (30°) degrees, forty-five (45°) degrees or the like. The actuator may operate in any manner, e.g., through the use of any type of device, such as pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical or mechanical devices. Steerable wheel diverters are provided in series between conveying devices, such as conveyor belts, that are typically mounted at elevated heights in order to permit a conveying system to include chutes or other components that rely on gravity as an energy source. A steerable wheel diverter may thus act as a junction between various segments of a conveying system, and cause items arriving via ingress to be routed to one or more points of egress.
When a steerable wheel diverter requires maintenance, however, the operation of a conveying system may be adversely impacted for extended periods of time. An entire branch of a conveying system that includes a steerable wheel diverter must be taken offline in order to repair or replace one or more of the wheels or rows of wheels, or to otherwise perform maintenance on or replace one or more of the motors, actuators, or other critical parts. Because the components of a conveying system are often large and unwieldy, and may be provided in elevated locations or in locations where access is limited, maintenance to a single steerable wheel diverter may shut down a branch of such a conveying system, or the entire conveying system, for extended periods of time.